TV.com Episode Review

IS SAM DOOMED?

Supernatural's tone can shift at the drop of a dime, from episode to episode, and even within an episodelike THIS episode, which was 90 percent standard monster-of-the-week with a touch of humor followed by 10 percent Winchester angst and that…

A standard filler drops the ball but hints towards the real stakes

I love Supernatural, and don't usually write reviews because, well, I just love it. But I know there are problems. I had a big one with this.

Greek mythology fascinates me, has since I was a kid. Artemis was always my favorite--she was the virgin Goddess who defended her sprites and hunted but honored her animals, who caused the death of a man spying on her bath and the downfall of handsome Adonis. She was of the moon and hounds and female power. It's pretty awesome. But nothing but the cherry-picked huntress aspect was shown on this show. How did she fall in love with Prometheus? Wasn't she the sworn virgin who was tempted only once? And, though I have a weakness for them myself, are high heels and makeup really hunter's clothing? (I can't help but feel that she would also object to how our leather is made, I'm eyeing that I'm upset that this powerful goddess, one of the original aspects of female power, was only relevant in relation to a man she canonically would never have been interested in. Then the other woman of the episode was useless but to inform us about jewelry and let Zeus loose. An interesting character, I thought from the glimpses we got, but come on. This is a systematic thing, too. The wildcard of love is hardly a wildcard of Supernatural. Of course I loved the prayer scene. Who didn't? But I was disappointed by this episode. I look forward to the next one, and less filler.moreless

Go and Tell it on the Mountain

While this episode of Supernatural was otherwise formulaic and boring in parts I was impressed that the writers delved deeper into more fallen and forgotten ancient gods. The brothers thinking a typical zombie case turns out to be Prometheus was an obvious curve-ball for anyone who knows about Greek mythology and saw the bird eating his intestines. The guy goes by Shane and had somehow managed to break out of the mountain Zeus had him trapped in presumably with the help of Artemis although never explicitly stated. The real twist came when it turned out that Shane had a son by a woman who had saved him from the mountain that died every day too it upped the stakes much higher. It was good to see Shane fighting to lift the curse of his son, Oliver, rather than trying to save his own skin it made him much more likable. Regardless, them wanting to take out Zeus was one of their more crazy ideas to ever be hatched to lift the kid's curse. The Men of Letters library got some mileage out of itself and found a summoning spell written by an ancient hunter whose journal the Men of Letters had translated. Once they had Zeus in the trap though I knew he would get out somehow, as soon as Dean walked away I figured either the kid or the mother would break it to get Zeus to lift Oliver's curse. Artemis having shown up earlier and Sam deducing that she was in love with Prometheus was a little too much guess work on Sam's part but I'll buy it because of the actress' reaction to just how true all of it was. It was a huge risk since she could've snapped Sam and Dean whenever she wanted. Zeus was the weakest part of the episode for me. While it was cool to see his lightning power at work, his overacting (which is typical of baddies in this show) fell flat. And he said, "I'm just getting started" which is a total cliche TWICE within the same three minute span. Then Artemis firing her bow at her Daddy and then Prometheus being used as target practice and then driving the arrow through to Zeus too was really obvious. It was like the last part of Live Free or Die Hard, without Bruce Willis so not as enjoyable. Seeing someone as big and powerful as Zeus, even if people don't worship him as much as they used to, getting killed like a punk like that was really pathetic and un-amusing. While the mythology was cool them duking it out with Zeus should've crackled more. However, Artemis does whisk his body away so he may still be alive and be out for Winchester blood once he's on his feet, who knows? Sam should only doubt the blood in his mouth and him hiding it from Dean not his overall motivation after only two episodes of being sure and finally convincing Dean that he should be the one to do it. That seems like back-peddling writing wise to me. Not the worst episode but the presence of more Gods and Zeus should've been better, especially when they have done gods so well in the past as seen in Season 5's "Hammer of the But based on the preview next month back to the season arc and we will see Castiel, who has been missing way too long, and possibly the Angel Tablet getting found and deciphered too.moreless

Dean: Cass, you got your ears on? Listen, you know I am not one for praying, 'cause in my book it's... it's the same as begging. But this is about Sam, so I need you to hear me. We are going into this deal blind... and I don't now what's ahead. Or what it's gonna bring for Sam. Now, he's covering pretty good, but I know that he is hurting, and this one was supposed to be on me.So, for all that we've been through, I'm asking you... you keep a lookout for my little brother, okay?

ALLUSIONS (9)

Dean: Yeah, and if things go all Dawn of the Dead on us, you'll be our first call.Referencing the 1978 horror movie written and directed by George Romero. The second in Romero's original Dead trilogy, Dawn portrays the world in a middle of a zombie rising. For survivors take refuge in a shopping mall and must deal with both zombies and far more dangerous rogue humans. The movie was remade in 2004.

Dean: What are you, like a real-life Kenny?Referencing the TV series South Park, in which character Kenny McCormick dies under typically unusual circumstances, and then returns the next episode unharmed and (typically) with no one apparently the wiser.

Sam: Dean, what do we know of that has...uh, Jason Bourne fighting skills...Referencing the spy first created by Robert Ludlum in the novel The Bourne Identity (1980). The character went on to appear in eight subsequent novels, and was adapted into a TV movie in 1988 starring Richard Chamberlain. The novels were then loosely adapted into a series of movies, starting with The Bourne Identity in 2002.

Sam: He, uh, Ocean 11'd Mount Olympus.Referencing the 1960 movie featuring a team of eleven World War II veterans who plan the simultaneous New Year's Eve heists of five Las Vegas casinos simultaneously. The movie starred all five members of The Rat Pack, and was remade into the first movie of a franchise in 2001.

Dean: Did you figure out who, uh, Xena-wannabe was?Referencing the TV series Xena: Warrior Princess, which started in 1995. The title character is female warrior Xena, played by Lucy Lawless. Xena is a former villain who has decided to seek redemption by fighting for good, traveling the world with her sidekick Gabrielle.

Dean: You promised to live a long Clark Griswold life full of prostate exams and colonscopies, all right?Referencing the father in the National Lampoon: Vacation movies, starting with National Lampoon's Vacation in 1983. Clark Griswold (played by Chevy Chase) is a well-meaning but bumbling father with a wife, a daughter, and a son, whose vacation and holiday plans always go awry.

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